Lynn


Today, I remixed this for the third time per your suggestions.  The details are on my first post.  It can be found there or here:  http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?q=hi&songID=12036664 


Thanks to all for participating in this production!

There we go!!! 1000% better Lynn! Totally lovin' this new one! One slight little crit..lol....I'm sorry, it kills me to even say this!
 
I'm hearing a few little clicks here and there through the mix. It could be soundclick or maybe there are a few overs that went down during your conversion? When I hear these little things, it's usually something clipping somewhere or once I convert from a higher to lower bit/sample rates using the same output settings, it will clip because the file has changed. Do this to an mp3 and it will really stick out.
 
It seems like it's only coming from your guitar on the left side now that I'm listening a bit closer. Do you hear them at all? It's not that clicky "lack of crossfade due to a punch-in" type of click, it sounds like something may just be clipping somewhere. I didn't hear this on the version I heard this morning but then again, my ears weren't as sensitive as they are now that they're fresh.
 
But all the changes you made are spot on brother. Voice is there through the whole thing and clear as a bell...nice and thick, all instruments are strong and where they need to be, drums are now controlled and aren't lashing out with highs and the volume is at a perfectly sane level to my ears. Nothing jumbled either!
 
If you're unsure of what I mean by the click thing, open up a project and jack up one of your busses until it starts to clip slightly. You'll hear these little click type artifacts come in. That's what I'm hearing. But other than that, man, really awesome job on the fixes...you nailed them all as far as I'm concerened. Great job Lynn!!! :)
 
-Danny
*edited for spelling*

this is awesome. really well put together song. all the parts are really well done.

eko, thank you so much for your kind words.  It's always good to have Sweden represented!

Danny, thank you for your sage suggestions.  Between you and Bitflipper, I got a handle on the transients of Superior Drummer.  I did cut the limiting in half and pulled down the upper mids on the mastering EQ, which helped a lot.  As for the clicking on the guitar, I just don't hear it on my system.  The guitar track in X2 is about -8db, so it's not coming from there.  The mp3 is encoded at 320 kbs, so I don't know if anything is getting lost in translation within Soundclick.  I do know what you mean, though.  I've learned the hard way about gain staging and digital overload.  Thanks for bringing it to my attention, I'll be listening for this.  If anyone else hears this, please let me know!

David, the new Law and Order man, thanks for stopping by and your gracious comments.

Kick azz song! Love the high energy.

Danny, thank you for your sage suggestions. Between you and Bitflipper, I got a handle on the transients of Superior Drummer. I did cut the limiting in half and pulled down the upper mids on the mastering EQ, which helped a lot. As for the clicking on the guitar, I just don't hear it on my system. The guitar track in X2 is about -8db, so it's not coming from there. The mp3 is encoded at 320 kbs, so I don't know if anything is getting lost in translation within Soundclick. I do know what you mean, though. I've learned the hard way about gain staging and digital overload. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, I'll be listening for this. If anyone else hears this, please let me know!

 
Hi Lynn,
 
So sorry if I'm driving you crazy with this. It's definitely a tough one to pinpoint especially if you can't hear it. I've done a little something which I hope you don't mind. I'm not one that likes to mention something and not support what I'm hearing as you know, so I took the liberty to hone in on this for you so (even if you can't fix it) you can at least hear what I'm hearing on this end.
 
I've created two examples for you.
 
1. This one, I have removed all your center fields which leaves us with just the sides of your song. You should be able to hear the little clicks/crackles a bit easier here. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4909348/LongMayYouLiveDanny.mp3
 
2. Next, I've removed the clicks/crackles totally to where I'm using as little of my click/crackle remover as possible. This is what we get when we remove the song completely and allow the remover to show us what IT is actually removing. What you hear on this is what I literally hear on your file when listening to it normally. It's nothing bad really and the music masks it rather well, but I know you don't want stuff like this in there if you can help it which is why I'm at least trying to show you how it comes across on my end. The tune and your mix is fine just as it is. Who knows, with my animal hearing, I may be the only one who can hear this...so my apologies if any of this sounds nit-picky. I honestly don't mean it to be and think the world of you. :) Here's the other:
 
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4909348/LongMayYouLiveDanny2.mp3
 
Hope this helps at least to show you what I hear over here. :)
 
-Danny

Lynn, I am very impressed with most of this production. The vox are carved out nicely, the mids ring true, highs are tamed.

But. We have lost both energy in the lows, and crystal clarity in the highs. While the tone of the drums is present, its lacking the physical force (which is actually voltage) to move the cones and give me both a deep felt note and punch. Sadly I am just way to out of practice at the moment to give you specific advice and really delve deep into this to understand what is happening.

My instinc is compression. Compression is a tricky thing, and then throwing EQ into the pot makes for a compicated stew. But I am not confident in this. Wish I could be more help.

First of all, I want to thank both of you for taking the time to analyze this for me.  Danny, I'm impressed that you went to the trouble of creating these clips for my benefit.  I hear the crackles you're talking about when you isolate them in the mix.  Now, I just want to know why they are present.  Assume for a minute that I paid attention to gain staging throughout the recording process, even  reduced the compression and limiting throughout, and yet there they are.  This is only the second mix that I encoded as a 320 kbs mp3 to Soundclick.  Could there be a problem there?  Don't worry, I'm not going to assume that the problem isn't in my original tracks, therefore, I will be going over each individual track with a fine toothed comb anyway.  Again, thanks so much for your time and effort.

Shad, I always appreciate your observations and take them seriously.  It seems that there's something of difference in the way you hear this, and the way Danny hears it.  Somewhere in the middle must be the answer.  Well, that gives me something to do this weekend between KU basketball and Chiefs football.  You guys are great, and you have helped me immensely in spite of seemingly contradictory statements.  Maybe, you're both in agreement after all, and it's my perception that is skewed.  I hope you both can be patient for a day or two, and I'll give this my undivided attention.

Danny Danzi

Danny, thank you for your sage suggestions. Between you and Bitflipper, I got a handle on the transients of Superior Drummer. I did cut the limiting in half and pulled down the upper mids on the mastering EQ, which helped a lot. As for the clicking on the guitar, I just don't hear it on my system. The guitar track in X2 is about -8db, so it's not coming from there. The mp3 is encoded at 320 kbs, so I don't know if anything is getting lost in translation within Soundclick. I do know what you mean, though. I've learned the hard way about gain staging and digital overload. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, I'll be listening for this. If anyone else hears this, please let me know!

 
Hi Lynn,
 
So sorry if I'm driving you crazy with this. It's definitely a tough one to pinpoint especially if you can't hear it. I've done a little something which I hope you don't mind. I'm not one that likes to mention something and not support what I'm hearing as you know, so I took the liberty to hone in on this for you so (even if you can't fix it) you can at least hear what I'm hearing on this end.
 
I've created two examples for you.
 
1. This one, I have removed all your center fields which leaves us with just the sides of your song. You should be able to hear the little clicks/crackles a bit easier here. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4909348/LongMayYouLiveDanny.mp3
 
2. Next, I've removed the clicks/crackles totally to where I'm using as little of my click/crackle remover as possible. This is what we get when we remove the song completely and allow the remover to show us what IT is actually removing. What you hear on this is what I literally hear on your file when listening to it normally. It's nothing bad really and the music masks it rather well, but I know you don't want stuff like this in there if you can help it which is why I'm at least trying to show you how it comes across on my end. The tune and your mix is fine just as it is. Who knows, with my animal hearing, I may be the only one who can hear this...so my apologies if any of this sounds nit-picky. I honestly don't mean it to be and think the world of you. :) Here's the other:
 
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4909348/LongMayYouLiveDanny2.mp3
 
Hope this helps at least to show you what I hear over here. :)
 
-Danny

foxwolfen


Lynn, I am very impressed with most of this production. The vox are carved out nicely, the mids ring true, highs are tamed.

But. We have lost both energy in the lows, and crystal clarity in the highs. While the tone of the drums is present, its lacking the physical force (which is actually voltage) to move the cones and give me both a deep felt note and punch. Sadly I am just way to out of practice at the moment to give you specific advice and really delve deep into this to understand what is happening.

My instinc is compression. Compression is a tricky thing, and then throwing EQ into the pot makes for a compicated stew. But I am not confident in this. Wish I could be more help.

Great work, Lynn.  

Hey, Lynn,
this is the first I've heard this one, I missed the previous mixes.

this is sounding really good!  vocals are good and clear, guitars are sitting well.  I wouldn't mind hearing a little more thump/punch on the bass and kick.

I do hear some pops throughout myself, I'm wondering if this is due to soundclick compression?  I have found that uploading a either a 16bit/44.1 or a 24bit/44.1k mix to soundclould seems to do much better on "encoding" when those streaming sites re-encode to 128.  and soundcloud seems to do a better job overall than soundclick does.  Just in my opinion, tho.

this is really good, I really enjoyed it!

Jan, thank you for your time and comment!

Reece, thanks for listening and commenting.  I had the same thought that you had.  Maybe it's time to upload to Soundcloud for an experiment.  I sure don't hear the clicks in my original wave file.  I'm glad to have people like you and Danny helping, and all the others who've inspired my work.